Downton Abbey Dusts Off the Silver for More Costume Drama

For a film that features an attempted assassination, romantic affairs, and a royal event, it’s very telling that the best scene in Downton Abbey features Maggie Smith viciously wishing she had a saber in bitter conversation.

Such is the formula of the movie that continues on from the iconic television series. The film is not so much a grand crescendo of a return but rather another shot sampler of what the show had to offer. Having not seen the show in quite some time, I found the feature-length, rapid-fire method of costume drama and lightly political subplots to be a mixed bag. Some of the familiar sensations are warmly nostalgic, while others carry a bitterness that didn’t seem present in the show. Perhaps within a serial format, they tasted much better, but consuming them all at once leaves little room for digestion.

Familiar faces return in Downton Abbey. Jaap Buitendijk/Focus Features

The key event at Downton Abbey in 1927 is that King George and Queen Mary will be paying the abbey and the Grantham family a visit. This creates a stir in town, as royal guests mean a parade, lunch, and ball. Everyone is on edge trying to get everything ready, and the presence of such visitors brings with it a number of events. The most notable plot, thankfully, is that the local abbey staff are bitter about the royal butlers and footmen shoving them out of the way. Not keen on being tossed aside and refused an opportunity to serve the king and queen, they stage an elaborate operation to secretly distract their rivals with fool’s errands, early bedtimes, and the old-fashioned method of locking them in their rooms. There is great charm and spirit as they bicker, bumble, and smile their way into serving the celebrities, especially with the stern and lovable Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) returning once more to run a tight ship.

While there’s a lot going on around town, most of the subplots fizzle about before they get good. Tom Branson (Allen Leech) becomes entangled in an assassination plot as a mysterious man arrives to try to stoke political tensions. This creates a great allure of drama of the era, but it starts too slow and ends too fast; this would be understandable if it weren’t for the last scene perhaps being the most intriguing. The same problem continues with the other B and C plots. A secretly thieving seamstress is discovered trying to steal the silver, and Anna Bates (Joanne Froggatt) uses the information to blackmail the seamstress. When questioned about her actions, the seamstress starts talking about her distaste of the class structure but then quickly ends her conversation. Why stop when things are just starting to get juicy?

Jim Carter as Charles Carson. Jaap Buitendijk/Focus Features

But, of course, that’s not the focus of Downton Abbey, and it almost feels like the film is trying to pull up from those types of drama that may not be its forte. There’s a much firmer hand when handling the theatrics within the abbey, where relationships are questioned and fortunes are bickered over. While the members of the massive cast are as talented as they are gorgeous, let’s not dance around the real star present: Maggie Smith reprising her role as Violet Crawley is the crowning jewel of this picture. She’s the bluntest, most vicious, and most hilarious member of the household, and she gets the wittiest retorts and most savage commentary. Anytime she is on screen, she dominates, shredding everyone to pieces with her words. Every verbal battle with Lady Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) over heirs carries a real bite for their bitter rivalry. Smith lights up the screen so vividly that even her melodramatic third-act moment, which could have been corny, comes off as the most genuine of fond farewells to the past.

Downton Abbey more or less retains the structure from the show, not so much serving as a finale but more as a reunion special of sorts. It maintains a certain grace for favoring its costume drama aspects that may outshine the higher-level dramatic tension that comes and goes with little detail. Could it continue after this film? Yes—but part of me wishes it wouldn’t, if only to bring end on a feature film rather than a handful of episodes.

Michelle Dockery and Matthew Goode as Mary and Henry Talbot. Jaap Buitendijk/Focus Features